Violet
by Mortals-in-the-Works
Summary: Being thrown into society after years of solitude is hard to adjust to. Erica Adler knows nothing of who did this to her only that SHIELD saved her. Incapable of fitting in, has she finally found a place to call home? Will she learn that people can be trusted? Takes place during and after movie. BruceXOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey! This is my first fic and I've been workin on it for a while, but I've finally decided to just post it. Because this is a shared account I'm Jenell, so hello again. Don't forget to give me a review to tell me how you like it! I will probably post the next chapter tomorrow or the day after so look forward for more to come!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything but Erica.**

* * *

_She opened her eyes to a blinding white light. They quickly adjusted to realize, it wasn't a light, but everything surrounding her, her thin harsh blankets, her cushionless pillow, the metallic walls, concrete flooring, even her skin, they were all as pale as white blank pages._

_She stood up moving her hand along the cool railings of her bed. She could see the sheets of black hair falling past her waist, grabbing it, Six studied its color. This hint of black was most of the spectrum she saw some days._

_Her legs moved her to the shower, while her mind buzzed like a broken television. She moved her arms unconsciously, following the routine she had since infancy. As she ran the transparent shampoo through her hair, she heard an unfamiliar noise. The water from the shower head was now sputtering, and eventually stopped._

_Six quietly stepped out, her wet feet dripping on the white tiling, and wrapped a towel around herself. She could hear the soap suds in her hair, as she looked to and fro the small room, once again that unfamiliar noise going off, muffled, in the distance. Trying to focus her ears she is startled by the loud rush of water coming back on in her shower. Six decides to push her curiosity aside and continue with her usual routine. As she rubbed the last of the water from her damp hair, "Six enter room 5," echoed throughout the building. The machine's unisex voice was out of sync today, obscure and distorted._

_Inquisitively, she walked into the room labeled "Trial Margin." She can hear another peculiar noise go off, much like an explosion, this time closer to her. She stopped in her tracks, aware that every one of her muscles had tensed up and her cells were now screaming at her. Ignoring the intimations her body was sending her, she strapped herself to the cold metal bed in the right corner of the large room. She heard a violent spinning noise above her head and closed her eyes tight. The air from the machine made her long hair fly around her face._

_BOOM_

_Six was flung into the nearest wall, eyes shut tight. She can feel the blood swelling around her head, her body mangled on the floor, momentarily helpless. Hardly conscious she looked up to make out figures running toward her, through an enormous hole in the metal wall, its edges still burning. She can see the moon lit sky, bordered with the rising flames, their beautiful colors dancing together through the night. She was able to distinguish the silhouette of a helicopter floating in the air, men falling from ropes. Her nose picked up a million of foreign smells, drying her throat. Her eyes being to water due to the exotic colors coming from the outside. Her brain felt like it could catch fire trying to process all the new information._

* * *

Erica Adler woke up with a gasp. She incoherently looked around her room, dazed by the colors surrounding her. She was hit with a swarm of memories, stinging her eyes; she whispered to herself for reassurance. "Your name is Erica Adler. This is your room, where you live with grams and gramps. They're people," Erica said aloud to herself, "people..."

She sat up, wiping off the cold sweat, that was currently plastering her short hair to her the edges of her face. Erica took the end of her bed sheet between her fingers, feeling the fine cotton. She slowly took in a deep breath as she looked to her clock. "3:47," she let out a long sigh and hugged her knees.

Erica left her bed, sheets thrown about, pillows now covering the floor, and walked to the kitchen. It's pastel blue walls were a comfort to her, as usual. She went to the refrigerator and opened it's door, it's small light, illuminating what corners of the kitchen it could. Quickly she grabbed a bottle of water and screwed open its cap; she leaned her body against the, now closed, door of the refrigerator. Eric silently drank, while looking at the moonlight that seeped from the closed blinds of the window above the sink. Moonlight, in all its beauty, wasn't actually made from the moon just a mere reflection of the sun's glory. It was fake and everything special about it was made so by other, more glorious and free, objects. What a pity.

Erica hardly noticed her water bottle is empty as she stared into the moonlight. Finally she broke from her grim contemplative state and stepped onto the wood flooring of the living room. She sinked into the old, recliner and picked up the book on the desk near it. What was gramps reading before he went to sleep? "Pride and Prejudice", undoubtedly granny was forcing him to read it again. She flipped the book open to the first page, pausing she debated with herself. Shall I turn on the light? No, it is okay, I do not need it anyway.

By the time she had turned to the last page the doorbell rang. Erica quickly strode to the door, and pulled the handle to reveal Agent Hill, leaning against the doorbell in what Eric could tell was exhaustion. She could see a jet behind the tired agent.

"Ms. Adler" addressed Hill.

"Hello, Agent." Erica stood at the doorway staring at her.

Hill sighed and asked irritated, "Can I come in?"

"Oh. of course, sorry." Hill walked past Erica and slumped into the recliner. Lifting her bottom, Hill pulled from beneath herself, the book.

"Pride and Prejudice? Really?" Erica shrugged, "Eric, we need you to come in. The Tesseract has been stolen... Barton... has been compromised. The fate of the world is in the balance. You know the usual." Her last sentence came in with a tinge of irritation.

"Barton has been compromised?"

"Yes, this Loki guy, whoever he is, has put Hawkeye, along with some more of our own under some sort of... spell. He took them in the process of stealing the tesseract."

Extremely worried Erica asked, "Is Barton okay? How is Nat handling it?"

"Agent Romanoff, is capable of dealing with things like this. So does that mean you are coming in?"

Erica narrowed her eyes, as she weighed her options. Which were go with the exhausted agent or have to deal with Fury's, furry.

"Ugh, ma'am, where are the briefing files?"

"In the jet waiting outside. I have to leave now but go as soon as your things are packed."

"Yes miss." she saluted

* * *

Erica tried to hide her amazement of the helicarrier. It was a beautifully made ship, the light reflection panels, the four engines each a back up for one another. However her mind soon began to break down the mechanics of it. She murmured to herself what everything did. She felt a tap on her shoulder.

Erica turned around to see agent Coulson. "Miss Adler, its nice to see you. Fury is going to have you working in the lab, for now, searching for the tesseract. Follow me." She held on final glance at the huge exterior of the ship and entered its equally magnificent interior.

Erica studied Coulson for a bit. Like usual he seemed very stressed out, but he was currently strutting. As they walked Erica was curious about agent was. She had not see him in months.

"_...December. _How have you been Phil?" Asked Erica

"Well I have been very busy, with all the... recent events. Sometimes I wonder how this organization would function without me."

"I'm sure they would not. You seem happy about something Coulson... What is it?"

"Well... I had the honor of meeting Captain America. That was... err... awesome."

"Awesome? That is good."

"How are you doing yourself, Ms. Adler?"

"I am good. It has been a quite peaceful life for me in the last month. It is unsettling."

"You just maybe the only person who finds peace unsettling." Coulson said as he opened a door for Erica.

"Well I am just not too fond of the calm before the storm. I become over vigilant."

Agent Coulson lead her to a room filled with expensive lab equipment. Her eyes light up as she scanned the area. Coulson gestured to the lone man in front of her, "This is Doctor Banner."

Banner turned in surprise to hear someone's voice. He looked at the beautiful young lady in front him. Her choice in clothes clashed greatly with all the black leather and suits on the ship. She wore a skirt with bright button up and a large green jacket that went past her knees. He rubbed the back of his neck, a bit unnerved by her presence.

Erica quickly began to break down the Doctor in front of her. _ This was Bruce Banner, THE Bruce Banner, she had spent many afternoons reading his work. This was the man who turned into a great force with the rise of his pulse. With the over exposure to gamma rays the doctor was a living miracle. A genius living miracle, it was always one of her chief dreams to work with him. _

_It was evident the toll that the doctor's accident had on him. He looked thoroughly unhappy and stress. He had grown premature grey hairs in his curly brown locks and had many worry wrinkles. He had an unnatural tan telling Eric that he had probably live somewhere hot. He couldn't have been in the army from his posture. A third world country perhaps? She could smell a bit of spice coming from his herbal tea and parchment mix and decided India._ Despite all the unhappiness curling off him Erica could help but feel beckoned to him.

Dr. Banner noticed her prolonged stare. He bit the side of his cheek. She was probably scared of him. Making sure he wasn't about to explode. Checking out the mask over the beast. She stared at him for quite a while before noticing his hand extended out toward her. Puzzled she looked at his hand to his face.

"Oh! Handshake." She thought out loud.

Dr. Banner grinned slightly amused at the fact that she had yet to shake his hand.

"Hello, Miss..?"

Realizing that she still hadn't introduced herself she quickly grabbed his hand, shook it violently and replied

"Miss Erica Adler. Although you may call me Eric, either is fine."

"Okay Eric it is." Banner flashed her a polite smile.

"Well I will leave you guys to your work. Goodbye Ms. Adler, Dr. Banner." Coulson left in a hurry

"Farewell Phil," she waved goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Second Chapter! It's nice to see that people are actually reading this. Sorry this chapter is so short promise the next one will be longer! Don't forget to leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, only Erica.**

* * *

Eric looked around the lab studying the computers and screens. "This is going to be interesting," Erica mumbled to herself.

"Tell me about it. Oh and..." Bruce pointed to a screen on the other side of the room,"We can rule out Western North America."

"That is wonderful. Shall we split it up Doctor Banner, I will take the southern hemisphere and you can take the North?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

They quickly went to work seemingly consumed by it, however Banner occasionally glanced over his glasses to study Eric. He realized she prone to talking to herself. He wondered whether there was a thought in her head that didn't get muttered out loud. She hummed a lot but never any specific genre of music; she would begin with what sounded like opera then to 80's pop. She was strikingly beautiful. She had black hair kept up in a short ponytail. Her pale skin brought attention to her unique eyes. They were huge doe eyes, beautiful and portrayed everything that went through her head. However this wasn't the most unusual part about them. They were violet with a ring of electric blue daring to come out.

She seemed to have forgotten that Banner was there. Which made him feel slightly more comfortable. People around him were usually tense; it made him feel better to see someone so lax.

"Erica Adler," Banner said aloud.

"Yes Doctor?" Erica looked up to him. Bruce couldn't help but stare at her eyes, they were unnaturally beautiful.

"Oh nothing, sorry." He added curiously, "Your name, it's very familiar."

Erica tugged at the back of her ear. "You might have read about an Erica Holder in an article. It was my cover name when I was Astrophysicist, I have discovered a few things."

A bell rang in Banner's head. He took off his glasses gesturing to her, "Yes. Dark Matter, right?"

Erica gave Bruce a very formal head nod as she mumbled something under her breath. She was so proper. Bruce figured, SHIELD had done this to her, he ran his tongue along his bottom lip.

Erica looked down, her cheeks blushed. "I tried to hide it, but I was very excited upon hearing your name, Doctor Bruce Banner. I have read a lot of your essays."

"Well thank you, although I can't say I am the proudest of scientist." Banner bit his cheek, the other guy was nothing to be proud of.

Erica assumed what he was thinking. The poor man was tormented by his alter ego. Bruce heard her mumble a few things then finally say, "A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery."

Banner looked at her, this girl had not a clue about what a monster he was. He smiled at her anyway, the quote familiar to him, "James Joyce?"

She nodded her head and began to hum again. She began mumbling low to herself, "M51, or NGC 519423. 30 million light years away. 60 thousand light years across..."

"What are you doing?" asked Banner, he hoped she wasn't a complete nut case, there were already enough on the ship.

"Oh, sorry Sir but I go over things in my head... to keep me occupied."

"And what were you going over now?" Banner was a bit skeptical.

"I was going over galaxies, specifically the Whirlpool Galaxy."

"Ahhh, That makes sense now." he paused contemplating whether he wanted to try to continue their conversation. "So, how long have you been on the ship?"

"I came to the lab the minute I got on board. What about you doctor?"

"I arrived this morning, about the same time as the Captain." Banner let out a sigh.

"The Captain?"

"Captain America," Erica looked at him blankly, "the huge guy walking around confused."

Erica laughed a bit as she came to realize who he was talking about, "He stood out a lot compared to the rest of the ship. Especially with all the people walking around in the leather suits around here. I wonder how long it takes them to put those outfits of theirs on."

Bruce laughed as he put in some coordinates on the computer screen. "It would also explain why it's so cold in here." Erica looked at Banner and gave him a huge smile. Perhaps working here wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Bruce wrote down the results from his and Erica's little "science experiment" however his job wasn't very hard due to the fact that Erica was very good at what she was doing.

"Oh very interesting spike in energy levels there..." Erica groaned, "I do not think the machine can sustain a lower charge than what it is already at."

Banner took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. "You sure? We're almost there." He let out a heavy sigh and swirled his tongue against his cheek.

"Well... I could tamper with SHIELD's tech a bit and perhaps..."

"I'm sure Fury will be very happy to hear that we mess with his stuff." Banner said sardonically.

"Yes... and that vein above his eye would bulge out..." She began mumbling to herself.

Bruce laughed, he did recall on several accounts Fury's vein popping out. Erica began to laugh with him.

"Okay, Mr. Banner want to hand me a screwdriver?"

Banner gave her the Phillips head, and her attention became fixed on the machine. Halfway through screwing back on the main cover she stopped. Erica looked up quickly, confusion spread across her face; her stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Bruce smiled at her over his glasses.

"A bit," she looked down embarrassed.

Banner took off his glasses and gestured her out of the room. "Shall we?

* * *

**Once again, super sorry it's so short. They get longer I promise! I'll probably try to update every Tuesday and Thursday, but if you think I should update on different days tell me. I'm not sure when I'll be posting the next chapter it will be soon though. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter three for you! Thank you SO much for the reviews I really appreciated them. I have tried to post this in the morning but with my summer school it's really hard for me to get up any earlier than I already am. **

**Disclaimer: Erica is the only thing I own.**

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The cafeteria of the Helicarrier was like a pit stop for all the agents of SHIELD. They would quickly walk in, eat, and leave without making any eye contact or conversation with a single person. It was a large room with a huge window which replaced a wall that looked out to the sky. The entire north of the room held all the quick and healthy strict diet foods and drinks that SHIELD expected their agents to eat.

Banner looked in amazement as Erica finished her third plate. He had hardly touched his mashed potatoes but this girl was going back for fourths.

"Hey, Dr. Banner," Steve said behind him. "Is it okay if I sit here, sir?"

"Oh, no of course sit." Banner replied

"So how's the search for the tesseract going?"

"We're getting there," Bruce said as he watched Erica approach them; she sat back down, her plate piled with more food than ever. Steve looked to her amazed, by how much was on her plate compared to how tiny she was. She looked at Steve recognizing him by his attire and went back to eating.

"Hello Miss," said Steve looking to her expectantly.

Eric pondered on the look on his for a while then opened her eyes wide. "Oh my apologies," she said her mouth full, "I am Si - Erica Adler."

Steve gave her a smile "Hello," he continued to stare at her until finally adding, "Excuse me Miss but I don't think I have ever seen eyes like yours... They remind me a bit of something."

"Oh yes, I was genetically enhanced as an infant." Erica immediately regretted what she had said, even more so after seeing the facial expressions on Steve and Banner. She looked down blushing and continued eating.

"So Dr. Banner how are you liking your time on the ship?" asked Steve, to interrupt the awkward silence that had fallen.

Banner looked down and bit the inside of his cheek, "It's... umm... it's been a ball. How about you captain? All the technology must be very overwhelming to you."

Steve laughed, "That is an understatement. Although the mood of the ship is very familiar."

"What about you Eric?"

She looked up surprised,"Hmm, excuse me?"

"How are you liking the ship, miss?"

"It's nice, very big. Full of people. Extremely different setting than I'm used to. I like the laboratory." She said finishing the last of her food. She looked to her plate, to Banner and then to the captain. "Sorry, I forget my manners. It was very rude of me to eat and talk."

"It's okay miss." they both smiled at her. Erica sat silently as she watched Steve and Bruce interact with one another, she noted many of their nervous ticks. Bruce was trying to explain how the Gamma signature left by the cube would let us find its location or were they talking about microwaves? Erica was no longer paying attention to their conversation, only watching them. She stared, fixed on Bruce's face, his brown puppy dog eyes, shadowed face, the way he nervously looked around the room...

The black widow appeared behind them, breaking Erica from her trance. "Nat! How long have you been on the ship?"asked Eric.

"Hello Ricky. I've been here a while. Sorry I didn't stop by. Mr. and Mrs Adler want to talk to you though, here." The agent handed Erica her phone, the screen reading Recent: Harry Adler, Adler Home, Coulson. "Also, Cap fury wants you on the bridge."

* * *

Erica stood alone in the end of a hallway, holding the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Erica Adler, why didn't you wake us and tell us you were leaving?" The booming voice of the women she call "Gran" yelled at her through the phone.

"I am sorry gran, I did not want to disturb your rest."

"Don't apologize! Your grandfather and I understand that you are old enough and have always been old enough to go out and save the world without our permission, but since you are still adapting to people and our ways, we would prefer you tell us. In the case that we think you've been taken hostage or something awful..."

"Grandma I is okay, I am fine, no need to worry." Erica was glad that she was the only one in this hallway.

"Well please just tell us next time... When are you coming home? Harry wants to go watch a movie."

"I do not know, so do not try to wait for my return. You two go, you have not gone on a date in quite some time."

She could hear her grandfather laughing in the background. He then yelled out to her, "Well when you do get home, you're going to teach me how to put music on these fancy iPod Natalie and Clint gave us for Christmas."

Erica chuckled, "Yes, sir. Well I must get back to work. Goodbye guys."

* * *

Banner and Erica worked in complete silence. Stealing occasional glances at one another. Bruce had become very fond of her company. He began to wonder about her. She had shown obvious signs of having trouble socializing and remember manners. She was very quirky and seemed out of place. However she was incredibly smart and knew about modern technology so he doubted her situation was the same as the Captains.

Banner could no longer stare at the computer screens, as his eyes began to hurt. He looked up at Erica who was staring intently at the ceiling. She bit her lip,"So Dr. Banner how are you?"

"I'm tired. Very very tired." He told her as he pulled off his glasses to rub his eyes.

Erica watched in admiration as Bruce ran his hand through his curly hair. "They took you from India right? I have heard that it is hectic there."

Bruce looked at her worried. Even she knew where he was hiding, how? Deciding to ignore it, he swirled his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "You don't know the half of it. There are a lot of sick people out there but I try my best to help."

"That is very kind of you."

"Yeah, I guess. What about you? What part of your life did SHEILD pull you out from?"

"My reading." Bruce laughed at Erica as she smiled at him. "Yes, Director Fury has brought up the Avengers with me several times but I was never too keen on the idea. I knew I would have no choice when the time came though."

Banner furrowed his eyebrows. "I didn't know about the Avengers until today. There's only so much you can hear in India. Hardly even your own thoughts."

"Hmmm... can you come over here? I think we can rule out the Arctic," asked Erica. Doctor Banner put on his glasses and studied the screen. Erica couldn't help but stare at him. He was close to her, which Erica wasn't used too. Eric was a big fan of personal space but she wasn't going to tell him anything; she like his smell. She could feel his breath against her cheek. His breathing pattern was very calm, slow and steady, which made her conscious of how hers was now coming in a little faster than usual.

"Yeah I think you're right. There are gamma signatures but nothing comparable to Eric Selvigs reports." Bruce turned and looked Erica in the eye.

Collecting herself Erica said, "Yes, thank you Dr. Banner."

"Call me Bruce." He pulled away from her stepping back to his work.

"Okay Bruce." She smiled at him. Bruce liked hearing Erica say his name. She had a way of speaking that made everything so much more elegant. He noticed Eric look around curiously. She looked to him but her eyes continued to dart around the room. Then from the glass a man with otherworldly clothing walked by handcuffs on. He was surrounded by agents, each with heavy fire arms. He must be Loki.

The second Loki looked at Bruce a wide grin hit his face. Loki wore the smile mischievous children got when they have done something bad. "This guy must be nuts." Bruce thought to himself. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his noise wondering if he was seeing right. Loki looked at Erica and began to chuckle.

Erica immediately began to break down the man through the window. _He was a narcissist by the way he held himself while he was at the disadvantage. Probably not from this planet, from his strange attire. He was Loki then. He had a broad smile across his face. Why was he smiling, the man was just captured? He was happy about something but what? It grew bigger as he looked at Banner and herself. He was happy about her and Banner being on the ship then but why?_

"Strange..." Erik whispered to herself.

"Ha. Tell me about it." Bruce said pinching the bridge of his nose then gesturing something like a "I give up."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! The next chapter is coming soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N I'm so glad to hear you guys are liking the story! I posted this later than I had anticipated, sorry about that, but since a lot of this from the movie I'll post the next chapter in a day or two. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers.**

Chapter 4

Natasha Romanoff escorted Bruce and Erica to the bridge. "So Ricky how are you adjusting?" Natasha asked as they turned a corner.

"Great." Erica replied, Natasha raise her eyebrows questionably ."How is she Doc?" She smirked.

"She's umm wonderful?" He still hasn't the slightest clue what the two girls were talking about.

"Okay then Ricky you haven't been an antisocial sociopath." Natasha laughed when she said this but Bruce had the slightest feeling that she was being serious.

The Black Widow then briefed them on the current situation. "We have a new addition to the team. His name is Thor. Apparently Loki has made quite a name for himself. This Thor guy, is an Asgardian, actually he's Loki's brother." Natasha raised her eyebrows and continued, " He was searching for Loki but he's decided to help us because he knows what damage the tesseract can do." Natasha stopped at the end of the door lips pierced. "I should warn you. Thor, he's a bit... Much."

A large man with beautiful blonde hair stood in the middle of the room with an astonished look on his face. Erica noticed Steve, sitting down at the table looking a bit irritated.

Natasha gestured to the blonde man. "This, is Thor." The man turned around surprised. "Thor meet Dr. Bruce Banner and Erica Adler." Banner rubbed the back of his neck and gave a small gesture in hello. Erica just smiled at him, gazing at his outfit.

He opened his mouth to reveal a booming voice and strange accent. "Hello Midgards."

Erica after this quickly interjected, "You are not from Earth?"

Thor smirked, everyone was always so surprised when they realized he was an alien. "Yes, I am from a planet called Asgard."

Before Erica was able to ask Thor anymore, Natasha turned on a screen showing Fury and Loki. Loki was in a strange prison that looked to be made of glass.

Fury was attempting to intimidate Loki. As if rehearsed Loki looked directly into the camera. "The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man." The room looked to Bruce, he looked slightly offended by the remark. "How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to help you." Fury was now angry, falling into Loki's trap. He talked the director down.

"Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something." Fury left with the last word, as the screen went off.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner said easing the tension in the room. Erica smiled at Bruce.

The Captain quickly said, "Loki is going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"

"Loki has an army called the Chatauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth, and in return I suspect the tesseract."

"Chatauri? Sounds a bit like some sort of juvenile game system." Erica said quietly. Steve looked at her confused, "Video games."

Even more confused Steve said almost to himself, "An army, from outer space." He seemed amazed and annoyed.

"So he's building another portal, that's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce asked Erica.

"Thats what I would assume. Someway for his army to travel through quickly and easily," she told him scratching her eyebrow, he nodded his head.

"Selvig?" Thor asked, worry in his eyes.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce informed him.

"He's a friend."

"He has him under some kind of spell... along with one of ours" Natasha added uncomfortably. Erica remembered Barton.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should focusing on Loki. That guys brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Banner said fiddling with his glasses.

"Yes, he seemed a little too happy about playing prisoner. Although I do agree with you Captain. He was smiling when they took him to his cell. I am not too sure, but that does not sound like something sane people do." Erica added bluntly.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother." Thor looked at Bruce and Erica. Bruce bit his cheek.

Natasha said very grimly, "He killed 80 people in two days."

"He is adopted." Thor said looking down shamefully.

"I think it's about the mechanics." Erica noticed someone walking into the room, Tony Stark. "Iridium... what do they need the Iridium for?" asked Bruce

Stark walking in from the entrance of the bridge quickly interjected, "Its a stabilizing agent." He then turned his attention to agent Coulson who walked him in. Erica watched the man she had heard so much about carefully.

Coulson left and Stark continued, "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.E.I.L.D." He slapped Thors arm calling him Point Brick. "Also means the portal can stay open as long and as wide as Loki wants." He walked up to the directs control panel. "How does Fury even see these?" covering one eye. "The rest of the raw materials agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily." Stark messes with the panels. "Only major component he still needs is a power source with high energy density." Stark slyly attached a chip to the control panel. Erica makes a note of this in her head. "Something to kickstart the cube."

"When did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?" asked agent Hill irritated.

"Last night." Stark said as a matter-of-factly. Erica could tell he was secretly very proud of this achievement. The agent gave Tony a look. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. I'm I the only one who did the reading?"

"Did Loki need any particular kind of power source?" asked the Captain who looked confused.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120-million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce told Rogers.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony hinted to Bruce.

"If he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion in any reactor on the planet." Bruce said.

"Finally someone who speaks English." Stark looked to Banner as if to give him a brotherly embrace. He had perhaps finally met his intellectual match.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked looking at Eric; she wrinkled her nose and nodded yes.

"Its good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and into an enormous green rage monster."

Banner not entirely sure how to react replied, "Thanks."

"Oh, and Ms. Adler, even prettier in person that you were on the papers. You're discovery on antiparticle revolution was ground breaking. If you guys ever care to-"

Fury quickly interrupted, "Dr. Banner and Ms. Adler are only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join them."

Steve interrupted, "Lets start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that but it is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men i know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury says irritated

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor looked around confused.

Steve quickly pointed, "I do!" everyone glanced at him like he was crazy, "I understood that reference." he said a little discouraged.

Tony looked to Banner and Erica, "Shall we play, Doctor, Erica?"

"This way, sir" gestured Banner. Erica followed him and Tony to the lab.

* * *

******So Comic Con is going on right now and guess who's going!? Not me. It's awful to know I'm only a few hours away from everyone and I can't see them! Did you hear about Tom dressing up like Loki for the Thor 2? I wish I was there, but to those of you who are like me and only get to watch everything through your computer at least we've still got the int********ernet. ****Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Here's Chapter 5 for you. **** I'm super happy that you guys are liking the story. ****To the person who told me about having too much dialogue in the last chapter sorry about that! I don't like doing the movie scenes so I tried to get them out of the way as fast as possible, thanks for telling me! **

******Disclaimer: I only own Erica, not the Avengers.**

* * *

"Hey Lavender can you finish this for me?" Tony Stark said to Erica flicking his equation to her screen.

"Of course Mr. Stark" she said after realizing he was calling HER Lavender. She sat on the desk, finished his equation, then replied. "It's electric purple." Tony gave her a confused look. "My eyes, they consist mostly of electric purple some indigo not much lavender."

"Alright Ms. 50 shades of purple." Tony jeered. Bruce snickered at Erica's puzzled facial expression. Erica noticed Bruce doing this and blushed. Erica shoot up from her desk and rushed toward Stark, startling Tony and Bruce. She began to tap Tony's arc reactor.

"Ow, ow! What are you doing doe? At least buy me a drink first," Stark said teasingly.

She looked up at him apology in her eyes, "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Stark. I was just wondering how this worked in a human body."

"It's complicated," he tapped on it himself. "You wouldn't understand it." Tony inspected Erica, measuring her up.

"I'm sure I could easily grasp the basic concept of it." Erica replied fighting every urge to tap it again.

"I like you," Tony laughed.

They all went back to work, face buried deep in, books, computer screens and files. Bored, Tony looked at Banner and Adler, he coughed into his fist, neither of them looks up. He slapped his pen to his face narrow eyed, then the thought hit him. He stared intently at his pen then began to vigorously tap his it against the side of his computer screen. He smirked when he noticed Bruce slightly lift his head, swirling his tongue against his cheek. Tony tapped it even faster. Now Erica's eyes were shifting to random places on the screen. He hit the side of the pen even harder. Both Erica and Bruce looked up, irritation clear in their eyes.

Tony put on a mocking look of surprise as he starred at the both of them. "What?" He asked innocently. Erica lifted an eyebrow.

"Nothing Tony, nothing."said Bruce exhausted, he immediately went back to work. Bruce ran his hand through his curly hair. Tony smiled then noticed Erica watching Bruce.

"So Indigo, how's the view?" Asked Tony humorously. Bruce looked up confused but turned his head to Erica when he saw Tony staring at her.

"What view?" Erica said as she narrowed her eyes.

Tony began to laugh. Banner and Adler looked at him like he was crazy. He put on a straight face. They both furrowed their eyebrows. Everyone went back to work.

"So Indigo why does Fury have you here?" She looked at Tony with an eyebrow raised, "Banner's a genius with some serious anger issues, Stripes and Stars is a grandpa that can kick-butt, Thor is a god, Agent Romanoff is Russian and I'm... well you know who I am. What about you?" Whenever Tony talked he had a very high air to him. Bruce, curious about Erica, watched the conversation over his glasses.

"Well S.H.E.I.L.D currently wants me for my intelligence. That is all I am aware of at the moment." She replied quickly trying to refocus on her work.

"Oh, alright we can add hot science geek to the mix then. Right Banner?" He smiled mischievously at Bruce.

"Y-yes we can?" Bruce replied half of his attention on Tony.

"So you think Eric's hot?"

"That's not what I... Errr..." Bruce ran his hand throw his hair. "We should probably start with that now." Trying to change the subject Banner pointed across the room. The three scientists looked ominously at the blue sphere sitting on the top of the table.

* * *

"Okay here we go." said Banner turning on the G.S.D. He lifted the scanner over the stick and it began to beep. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But its going to take weeks to process." he said frustrated.

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops."said Tony

Banner laughed saying, "All I packed was a toothbrush."

Tony laughed along, "You know you two should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's candy land."

"I have never been to what the call the Big Apple, I would love to see The Empire State Building."

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kinda... broke Harlem."

"Well I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises." Tony hit Bruce with an electric zapper.

Steve walked into the room in the nick of time to yell, "Hey!"

"Ow!" Bruce said the sides of his mouth twitching. Erica couldn't help but smile.

Tony leaned into to Bruce observing him."Nothing?"

"Mr. Stark I'm sure Doctor Banner has dealt with a lot worse than that." Erica laughed

Steve said angry, "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out." Focusing on Banner again, "You really got a lid on it haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Tony said eyeing Banner suspiciously. Erica giggled a bit.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve looked annoyed.

"Funny things are." Stark replied childishly.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense Doc." Steve replied surprisingly calm.

"It's all right, I wouldn't have come abroad if I could handle..." Banner looked at the thing in Tony's hand, "pointy things." Bruce gave Erica a smile.

"I don't think you've got to worry Steve, Tony was just poking fun at Bruce." Erica laughed at her own joke.

Tony looked at Bruce, "You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem Mr. Stark," replied an irritated Steve.

"Do you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us?" Tony was a bit mad, "I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked confused.

Tony felt the need to spell it out for him. "He's a spy. Captain, he's "the" spy. His secrets have secrets. Its bugging them, too, isn't it?"

Erica and Banner tried to act as if they were not listening to the argument, until Banner finally said, "Uhh.." gesturing to the computer, "I just want to finish my work here and..."

Steve said firmly, "Doctor?"

Banner sighed, pulling his glasses off, unable to stall any longer. "'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Steve said quickly

"I think that was meant for you." Bruce said looking at Tony. Stark offered him some blueberries, and Bruce, taken back by Tony's timing for the kind gesture, took some and continued. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

Rogers inquired unsure, "The Stark Tower? That big ugly...," Tony shoots Steve a look "...building in New York?"

"It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?" Banner turned back to Tony.

"That's just the prototype," Tony said proudly to Steve, "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

Bruce then continued, "So why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

Erica added, "Several of Selvig's reports are extremely... skeptical. Some of the things... it does not sound like they were just watching over the cube."

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

Steve angrily asked Stark, "I'm sorry, did you say...?"

Tony replied nonchalant, "Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." Looking at Steve he pointed at the blueberry bag in his hand. "Blueberry?"

Erica interjected, "Is that what I saw you put on the control panel?"

"You saw me?" The billionaire genuinely looked disappointed.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" Steve questioned Tony.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically not possible."

Erica reminded The Captain, "The smartest man is always the strongest, especially when that knowledge is put to use in politics, weapons, warfare..."

Steve interrupted her, "I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

Tony said coolly, "Following is not really my style."

Steve walked extremely close to Tony, annoyed, "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is; a) wearing a spangly outfit, and b) not of use?" Tony said childishly.

Bruce noticing the tension between the two tried to shed some light on the problem, "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

Indignantly, Steve said, "Just find the cube." He looked to Erica, "Ms. Adler, director Fury wants you to go to the bridge." The Captain, stormed out of the room heated.

* * *

Erica walked slowly, tired from waking up so early. She stepped on the bridge, searching the room, where was Fury?

"Ms. Adler?" Erica turned around to see a young man behind her, he looked slightly frightened and uncomfortable.

"Sir?"

"Director Fury asked me to show you to your room." The boy's eye twitched as he told her.

"_Oh right, I need to sleep_... Okay, would you escort me then?" The boy quickly turned on his heels and walked to Alders room. After giving her the key, he left her at her door. I should go back to the lab now, I can sleep later. She opened up the room and looked around. The dark grey metallic walls match the cold, not so at home, feeling of the room. She noticed the wall on her left had a book shelf and a comfortable looking chair, in the middle of both of them was a door to what she suspected was her bathroom. The bag full of her things sat in a lonely corner, parallel to her bed.

Erica grabbed her bag and sat on her bed, pulling things from it. She stopped when she reached her mask, designed by Clint, it covered her nose down. The others may not have a need for a mask to keep a secret identity but Erica's features were too distinct to show off while fighting. As she sank deeper into her bed, she gave up the thought of going back to the lab. She took off her daytime clothes to reveal, under them, the long-sleeved black shirt and tight shorts she wore in battle. She pulled her pajamas over them and pulled her short hair out of its ponytail. Drawing the sheets of her bed over herself, she closed her eyes on the thought, _"Bruce and Stark can manage without me."_

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**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N I am so sorry it took me so long to update! I've been super busy lately and never came around to do it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter, I had a lot of fun writing this one. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, or anything to do with Marvel, I only own Erica.**

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_Six sat in the cold metal chair in silence. She watched carelessly as the arm and leg straps shut, tight around her skin. A large, ominous, syringe popped out of a hole from the chair. The green liquid swirling inside spilled, a few drops hitting the floor. She could hear a sizzling sound as the white floor began to turn into a black/brown and the burnt fabric began to curl up as the hole got bigger._

_Without warning, the syringe plunged into her neck. She could feel the acid begin to spread through her blood as she screamed. Perhaps someone or something would save her if she yelled loud enough. However no one would, she was completely and utterly **alone**._

_Every part of her burned, her eyesight began to go black and she lost her sense of smell. She wanted to faint, sleep, fall into a coma, **die**, anything to get rid of the pain. She now lost her ability to breath, as her throat, and in turn, lungs began to fill with blood. However she stayed conscious her body holding on, even now repairing itself. Somehow she was still able to yell, all she could do was scream until her voice let out, which would never happen._

* * *

Bruce yawn as he tried rubbing the sand from his eyes. Something had woken him up from his dreamless slumber. Was was that again? He remembered as his ears focused on the blood curdling, screams coming from the room opposite to his. Trying to avoid getting up he debated with himself whether or not he should wake the person. Another scream went off, forcing him out of bed.

He stood at the edge of the doorway, almost frightened to open it. Then he slowly pressed against the door, it opened and he shuffled in. The room was smaller than his and even less homey. The source of the screaming was Erica, who was tossing about uncontrollably, no blankets or pillows on her bed now. He rushed to her side and began to call her, grabbing her shoulder. "Eric. Eric, wake up! You are having a nightmare, none of it is real. Erica!"

Erica shoot up, with a gasp. She wheezed, as she clutched her throat. Bruce took her arms from her neck and looked into her sad, panicked face. She had tears streaming down, but she looked at him confused. Erica brought her hand up to Bruce's face.

"Erica?" The doctor could hardly see Erica in the pitch black room. She suddenly hugged him, digging her face into his shoulder. He awkwardly held her weak state in his arms, he hardly knew the girl and he felt like he had just stepped over several boundaries. He swallowed hard and tried to comfort her. "It's going to be alright. It was only a nightmare, wherever your mind took you wasn't real. You are here, with me. It's okay." He rubbed her back and noticed the end of her whimpering. She took her head out of his shoulder and looked back at him.

"I am sorry, did I wake you doctor?" She asked clearing her throat, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes without Banner noticing.

He cupped her face in his hand as he dried her tears."No its okay Eric." He uncomfortably stare at her biting the inside of his cheek. Erica couldn't stop herself from admiring Bruce's nervous tic. He figured she wanted to be alone now so he got up from her bed. She quickly grabbed his arm.

"I... I um... I am sorry Bruce but could you stay here, until I fall asleep. I would prefer not to be alone." Erica asked him looking down, embarrassed.

Banner swirled his tongue in his mouth, "Of course." He then pulled the small cushioned chair from the corner of room and moved it by her bed. He grabbed the pillows and blankets off the floor and put them over Erica, saving a pillow and sheet for himself.

"Thank you." Erica said quietly, snuggling into her pillow and blankets. He got comfortable in the chair, realizing that it had a leg rest. "No problem, Ms. Adler." She quickly fell back to sleep but Bruce was not as lucky. He sat in the chair letting his thoughts take him.

_"Erica, looks so peaceful in her sleep. She so beau- no stop it Bruce, at least not right now. What was she dreaming about? It must have been awful if it was bad enough to make her scream like that. Wonderful, leave it to me to find someone with even more issues than I've got . No. That's not possible... She definitely kept to herself, I wonder how often this happens to her. Poor girl."_

* * *

Erica woke up with a knock on her door. She moved out of her bed and looked at her room. Bruce had returned the chair and blanket back to their rightful place._ "I hope I did not keep him up."_ Erica opened the door for Agent Hill, "Fury wants you to see Loki. He said he asked for you."

"Yes, miss." Erica closed her door, heading for the bathroom in her room. She quickly washed up, brushing her shoulder lengthened waves out of their knots. Erica looked at herself in the mirror. "_Should I wear my suit? The captain wore his around. Yes, I'll just grab my green jacket, and wear it over."_ She stuffed her mask in her pocket and walked on to see the Norse God of Mischief.

* * *

Erica cautiously walked into the room that held Loki. She was unsure what to expect from him, or how he even knew of her. The agent that escorted Eric told her that Natasha had already spoken to him only a few minutes ago. She stopped a few feet away from Loki and watched him shift uncomfortably in his glass cell. What had Natasha done to him?

Loki looked over his shoulder, Erica visible from the corner of his eye, "Ahh, Ms. Adler. I see they sent my message on."

"Yes, they did. Mr... Loki." Erica said, uncertain what was appropriate to call him.

"You talk shyly. Good. Smart. You are in the presence of a god." Loki said proudly.

Erica lifted her eyebrow. "Gods do not exist. You are only an alien, an Asgardian. Your special abilities do not make you any more important than me."

Erica had obviously struck a nerve, "I am a god. I am the rightful king of Asgard! You are a mere mortal compared to me. I have seen things your feeble mind can hardly apprehend." Loki spat at her.

"Well sir, are you to sure about that?" Erica's doe eyes looked at him skeptically. Natasha must have made him angry. He was already acting very defensive.

He studied her, looking into her eyes. "Actually, I am not. Tell me why has Director Fury called on you. He so desperately asks creatures who can be his greatest demise, to help him in his greatest in fall. You such a rare beauty, a white rose only to be ruined by blood. Why?"

Erica slowly took in his question, weighing his character and motives. "He would like me to help clean up a mess you made. There is nothing special about me."

Unsatisfied with her answer Loki said, "Oh but you are special. You are a lot more than just smart Ms. Adler. Tell me how does it feel to be thrown into society? To come from complete loneliness then go into the white light."

Erica wasn't sure if Loki had used the word white on purpose. He had added too much emphasis on the word for it to be meaningless.

He smiled at Erica. "Is my choice in words surprising?" He paused lifting his hand up, "How about that?" He mischievously grinned. "Is. My. Choice. In. Words. Surprising." He numbered each of his words with his fingers. "Six"

Erica froze unsure if Six was a question for her or a fact. How much did Loki know about her? Only three people in the work knew about the information he was hinting to her: Natasha, Barton, and Director Fury. She whispered to herself "Barton"

Loki laughed at her, "Oo, you are smart. If it wasn't for this cage I would have taken you already."

She looked at his glass container, summing up it's abilities, finding it's faults and weaknesses. "It is a good thing you cannot get out."

"Yes this contraption seems to have been made for someone else. A monster."

"If you are referring to Bruce as the monster, then I am not completely convinced that you are aware of your own character. Doctor Banner is anything but-"

"Have you grown a soft spot for the beast? Oh yes, he is a beast. The worst kind, he knows it himself." Loki began to move closer to Erica "The beast sets blaze to men with no care or conscious. His sole purpose is to destroy. Something like that cannot live. It must be crushed." At the word crushed, Loki balled his hand into a fist then slammed it on the glass.

"He isn't a beast you are. You walk around like you are cock of the walk but on the inside you are nothing but an insecure little boy, too afraid to accept his fate,",Erica coldly said to Loki, "haunted by a past that is your own fault. So you take your fury out on others. People smaller than you, less able. You, my sir, are nothing but a bully that knows a few magic tricks."

He looked at her viciously, but it only made Erica stand taller. His face softened and his eyes narrowed, "Your eyes. They remind me of something." He smiled at her, "Perhaps the tesseract." Erica turned her back on him.

Loki went on, "I don't know so much about your species but I am aware that purple eyes like yours aren't common, or very well exist. Especially if they can change in a matter of seconds to that shocking blue. How did they do it? Those scientist were very smart, enhancing your genetics to improve an ability that already exist. I wonder what they would have done with you. I maybe a monster, but so are you." Eric continued to keep her back on Loki. Her heart rate was picking up, he knew too much about her, she didn't like it.

Loki still talking said, "You and me are very similar. We were both born monsters only to be thrown out by our parents. You perhaps even worse than I. Your parents let you become an experiment... How does it feel to know you can destroy this entire world by accident?"

Erica had finally had enough, she looked at him, "How does it feel to know you'll never be good enough?" She started for the door when she heard an explosion. Erica looked back to Loki to see him smiling. She broke out into a full sprint, as she slid her mask on.

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**Dun dun duuuun. Loki knows about Erica's issues! How is this gonna play out? Keeping reading and you'll see. Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Thanks for all the feed back guys! I'm glad you guys liked that chapter. This was my first time writing action sequences so sorry if its too fast or unclear. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers.**

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Erica ran as quickly as she could back to the lab. Throughout the ship red lights flashed accompanied by a loud alarm. She whizzed past agents who all had their guns out, every so often accidentally firing at her. Her ears began to ring with all the noise going on in the ship, the only audible things she could make out in the distance were screams and gunshots.

She began to worry about Dr. Banner, he undoubtedly was going to change into the Hulk. She had yet to know the extent of his abilities so her calculating an estimated time would be useless.

As she turned a corner she saw men fully geared and armed. These were not S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, their colors were all wrong, their equipment were expensive knock-offs and, by the way they held their guns, seemed to be looking for a fight. Keeping her momentum she rounded the wall, jumping against it and spun off into two men. She kicked them both square on the throat, knocking them unconscious.

The others were hardly able to process what had happen. She quickly pulled the knives from the pouches of the unconscious soldiers and threw their blunts into the necks of the remaining. They all fell with a thud.

A loud deafening roar, rang throughout the Helicarrier. "Bruce!" Erica yelled out. She ran even harder, she had to keep the Hulk from hurting anyone. Upon hearing this noise, the agents went into a frenzy, while more of their attackers began to flood the halls. As she ran Erica knocked unconscious anyone who wasn't SHIELD. She received a gunshot to her leg, but could hardly feel the pain.

There was shooting everywhere; dead agents were already sprawled on the floor. As she looked around she found herself, surrounded by men with huge guns. They all began shooting at her as she round kicked the biggest unconscious. She ran the next one grabbed him by the collar and bashed his head into the person adjacent to them.

The others backed away slowly, reloading their guns, as she turned toward them. She jumped on one, pulling the knife from his armor. Erica hit the bunt of the knife on the mans head, but as they fall one of the bullets from the other soldiers finally hit her in the side. Clutching her torso she wheeled toward the rest of the men. She kicked one in the face then trips the last. As she gets up she grabs their guns and bends them in half. She continued back to the lab.

Erica made it to the lab only to find half of it blown away. No one was there, only broken glass. She could hear Bruce yelling from where she was though. Every scream like a shot through her heart. The gravity of the ship shifted to the side. _The engine must be busted. She should help. Where are the rest of the Avengers?_ She closed her eyes trying to focus. Over the lab she could see the battle raging on, in the bridge.

_"Okay headcount. Tony would obviously try to fix the engine. The Captain was on the ship fighting off Loki's forces. Bruce was destroying the ship in the lower decks if I hear correctly. Thor is fighting him, because the Hulk sounded like he was fighting a not-so-even match. Natasha like the Captain would be fighting off soldiers along with Fury. Okay..."_

She looked around the broken room, when something shiny caught her eye. An earpiece, her earpiece that she had never put on. _"Well now is the time."_ Erica murmured to herself flipping it on.

"zz...Adler... Do you hear me... Does anyone know where Adler is...zzz" asked a busy Fury.

"I am here Director." replied Adler.

"zzz...Adler I need you to help us find Loki and obtain him...zzz"

"_I was just there._ Sorry, yes sir, I am on my way to the target." Then once again without stopping, Erica sprinted full force to his cell.

Erica turned to find agents having a gun match with their attackers. _"One moment."_ Erica murmured to herself.

She ran straight for the men shooting at them. They began to shoot at her, but Erica was too fast. She was already in the air stealing one of the guns from their hands and kicking them unconscious. She then gave the others a good whack to the head. She stood above them for a second and decided to destroy their guns. When the deed was done, Erica continued back to Loki.

Erica was close to his holding cell. She could hear Thor and Loki fighting around the corner. When it finally arrived she saw Coulson laying on the ground, gun in hand, bloodied, above him stood a proud Loki, Thor nowhere to be found.

"Ahh, Ms. Adler back to take on my offer?" Loki walked toward her, specter pointed.

"No Loki. I am here to hinder you but it seems I may have came too late." Erica said watching Coulson.

"Oh, I think you did. Have you seen my brother around lately?" Loki laughed, "You have fallen into my trap and it's time your little world met its much needed demise."

Agent Coulson interrupted him, "You're gonna lose."

Irritated Loki looked back to him, "Am I?"

"It's in your nature." Erica smiled at Coulson's bravery.

Loki narrow eyed said, "Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"Your lack conviction." Coulson told him.

Loki amazed at his stupidity said, "I don't think I-" Then, startling Erica, the huge gun in the agents hands blasts Loki through the wall.

Smirking Coulson tells Erica, "So that's what it does." Erica goes to the pale Coulson. She checks his vitals, making an effort not to say her thoughts out loud._ Loki had stabbed him clean through the chest, he was going to die of internal bleeding._ She swallowed hard, _she did not want him to die, he was one of her first friends_.

Phil pointed to the hole Loki made when he went through the wall. Before Erica could protest Phil Coulson told her, "Go." Incredibly hurt she gave him a determined look.

Erica got up and ran through the hole. _This man was going to suffer for killing Phil._ She looked around the hall, then at the floor, blood, coughed up by Loki. As she walked further in the cold and dark passageway, she could hear his pained grunts. Stealthy she ran to the end, only to find the silhouette of the battered Norse god leaning against the wall. She took in his form,_ he was the most hurt on his left shoulder and right leg_. Erica took one step back, bracing herself to slam into him.

Suddenly a hand pulled over her mouth and she was brought to the floor with a hard thud. The man's silhouette disappeared and Erica looked up frustrated. _How did Loki sneak up on her? She was better than that._ She struggled under his arms, managing to break free. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a choke hold.

"Do not struggle or I will kill you." Loki whispered to her. Erica tensed up, she hated being this close to people.

"You are going to kill me? I thought you would know better Sir." Erica said, squirming against Loki's arm.

"Very true." Loki threw Erica on the ground. "Now, we are alone once again. Nothing stands between us... So back to my offer, you are very smart Ms. Adler. Smarter than you can even let on. But on top of that, I need you and your... abilities." Loki grabbed his scepter from the floor and pulled it to Erica's heart. "The tesseract shall show you the way, and in return you will serve me."

Before Loki could do anything Erica swung her legs over, throwing him to the floor. "Oh, so you can fight. They programmed you well. That hurt more than when my brother does it." Loki laughed on the floor.

He quickly swung his scepter at Erica but she evaded it. Rolling to his feet Loki shot, his tesseract powered spear, at her. She once again avoided it and broke off one of the pipes from the walls around them.

They began to slash at each other. Loki got hit on his already injured shoulder and yelled out in pain. He counter attacked by throwing her into the wall. She came back to him and hit her knee to his stomach. He stabbed her in between the ribs.

In a fury of pain, Erica threw her pipe at Loki and jumped at him. They wrestled on the floor as Erica pulled the knife from her body and held it to Loki's throat. Loki rolled them over, holding her knife hand to the floor. Erica kicked him off of her, but he landed on his feet.

He shot his scepter and hit her leg. She hit the ground hard, and struggling to get up, threw herself on Loki. Arms reached out, she went through his body and landed on the ground again.

Erica got up and punched the god in the face. Dazed, he blast his scepter, but missed her. She ran off the wall, then propelled herself to his neck. Ricky swung her legs around him, making him lose his balance. Loki fell to the floor, while his scepter flew to the other side of the room. Erica ran for it, only to have Loki pull her feet from under her. He rolled to his legs and grabbed his scepter.

Enraged that a human was holding their ground against him, Loki tricked Erica. Swinging at her, he threw a knife to her side. She dodged it, but he kicked her square on the chest, knocking all the air out of her. Her head hit the wall first and she felt warm blood begin to drip down her neck. Her vision blurred, but she attempted to get back up. Loki walked to her, tired, and pressed his scepter to her heart. Erica's eyes turned electric blue.

"Hmm... So it is the same color." Loki grunted as he fell to his knees. It isn't until now that he realized how injured he was. He could hear people begin to approach them, his people. He got up, and is hit by a great light headed feeling. Pretending to not have been bothered by the fight, he ordered the soldiers to take Erica onto the ship. She quickly got up, refusing help.

Loki smirked at her blue eyes. "Follow me mortal."

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**I originally wasn't going to have Erica taken by Loki, but my friend suggested it, and I think it works out better than what I had planned on doing. I hope you liked it. Don't forget to review! Thanks for reading!**

**Also m****y friend, Angie has just posted up her, Inception, Ariadne/Arthur, story on our account. I personally love it and think its awesome, so if you like that movie you should check it out!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Hey guys sorry I don't post as often as I should but these next few weeks are probably going to be pretty hectic for me, but stay assured, I'll still update. **

**Disclaimer: I only own Erica, and the Avengers defiantly aren't mine. **

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**_Erica Adler of Earth, human, yet to be confirmed. You have been saved by our god, Loki and agree to seeing the light. Let go of all your beliefs, morals, and ethics, you no longer have need for such petty ideals. All you need is you to do is give us your will and let us make all the decisions for you._**

_You are asking me to give you my freedom, to become your slave. I shall not and I will not._

**_Yes, you will, you have already. This is not the first time, this patterns purpose is to show you the universe's great plan. You are meant to be controlled. That you, of all people, must be ruled, you were born a slave of will and you shall always be one, whether you want to or not._**

_That is not true, I escaped that fate long ago, and I will get out of this._

**_Six, you do not even know your real name. How do you expect to get out of a destiny you hardly know anything about?_**

_Get out of my head. NOW._

**_Do not fear us, your morality is the only thing holding you back. Let us show you all that is and can be, the future and the past, places you could hardly dream of, answers you could never hope getting. Follow under Loki's command. Come with us._**

_Where do you plan to take me?_

**_To your salvation._**

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"Hey. Miss. Hello. Lady. Ma'am."

Erica heard these noises unable to fully understand them. Her head throbbed, she felt... _different_. Her body felt fine and she could smell the dirty men and gunpowder in the air. Gunpowder? She opened one eye to see a group of men surrounding her, all armed, holding their guns up as if ready to shoot her down. _ "These men woke her up, with guns. They were hostile. Are they trying to kill her now? No fear, you are all under the same command. Same command? How would I know that. __**Just listen to us... Relax.**__"_ Whipping the clammy sweat off her forehead Erica, realizes she is still wearing her mask, "Yes, sir?"

The soldiers immediately relaxed, she guess they had the fear that she would attack them when she opened her eyes. From behind them she saw Loki leaning against a wall, watching her. Erica remembered everything, Loki was her master. _She had nothing to fear._ He began his long stride toward them, a triumphant grin on his face. "Loki asked us to wake you."

Erica turned back to the men who stood over, "Thank you."

"Hello, Ms. Adler. I've seen you woken from your slumber. How does it feel?" Loki looked at her.

"My head hurts." Erica said to him as she studied her commander. He held a façade that he was important, powerful and sure of himself. Which he was, but she wasn't so sure about the latter. She could see it in his eyes.

He chuckled and said, "Yes, you took quite a thrashing, but all for the better."

"Yes, I would say so." Erica said in complacent agreement.

"Loki we will be there in 10 minutes." Loki smiled, "Be prepared mortal."

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Erica followed quickly behind Loki, the only sounds heard was his cape dragging along the floor, as they walked in the cold corridor. Where? She hadn't the slightest of clues, only that Loki wanted her here. She tried not to wonder about the reason they had came. She began to hum to herself, in an attempt to keep her mind occupied.

"Would you quit that?" Loki asked still looking ahead of her.

"I apologize, sir." Erica stopped humming and silence once again fell on them. Her thoughts finally got to her. "Why are we here?"

"Something has gotten my temper. I have decided to test your loyalty, with this mission." Loki stopped at a door, the lights from inside visible through the bottom. They had reached the end of the corridor, and now Loki held his finger to his lip in a hush. The person on the other side of the door seemed to be in a hurry. Erica could hear papers rustling about and heavy boxes being snapped shut. Small, heavy feet pattered on the wood flooring.

Everything in the room went silent. Loki suddenly kicked the door open, taking it from it's hinges. A small man with beady eyes trembled in the corner of a small office, while papers flew around in the air. Loki pointed his scepter at him. "Hello."

The man began to shake uncontrollably when he finally looked Loki in the eye. When his eyes met Erica's he immediately looked down and began whimpering. Loki continued, "It has been brought to my attention that you have decided to withdraw the investments you have made to my... cause." Loki's voice began to raise, his rage evident. "Who do you think you are mortal? Above me? How dare you even attempt to resist me. I took your filthy money, out of necessity. And I would like you to know, your donations are no longer needed." Loki gave his last words coldly and then turned to Erica.

"Kill him."

"Excuse me, sir?" Erica was taken back.

"Do what I say." Loki commanded calmly.

"But... I will not kill him." She looked at the terrified man, who was now begging for his life, pleading with his eyes.

"You shall. You nearly killed half of my men. You are well capable of killing this thing."

"Sir..."

"Kill him!" Loki yelled this at Erica making the man break out into full sobs, his begs impossible to understand.

Erica stared into Loki's eyes, then back to the man. In a quick motion she pulled the man's leg from under him and grabbed him by his shoulder. The small man struggled against her superior strength as he squirmed in her arm. She looked Loki in the eye with pure hate. _Do not kill him, you do not have the right - __**Do as Loki says.**__ - This is not right do not listen to him. He called this human a thing - __**KILL THE MAN NOW.**_ Erica took a deep breath into her nose, the only sounds in the room were the rustle of paper and uncontrollable sobs. This moment was ended as Erica snapped the mans neck. His struggling body went limp, and hit the floor with a loud thud. The sound echoed in the small room.

Erica turned back to Loki, wiping the man's sweat from her palms, on her black shorts. Her eyes were completely blue, cold and empty, her face wiped of all emotions. "Is that all, sir?"

"For the moment, follow me. We have more important matters to be dealt with."

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**Sorry that it's so short. I hoped you liked it though. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review! P.S. You should check out the inception story my friend has posted on our account.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Oh my gosh I hope you guys don't hate me! I'm sorry, I've just started high school, and frankly, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now. I'll try giving you guys chapter ten as soon as I can, but it could take a while. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers.**

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Erica sat silently as the ship landed on Stark Tower. Selvic was already there, the portal set up and prepared. He greeted Erica with a handshake and mindless smile. Loki began to bark orders to everyone on the roof. "-Erica, you shall scout the vicinity. If the Avengers make an appearance and they will, destroy them. Sta-"

A soldier came out from the jet and interrupted Loki. "Sir, Tony Stark has been spotted on his way to the tower."

Loki put on a bone chilling smirk, and started his way into the building. He says aloud, "Let the games begin."

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Erica turned her way down fourth street for the third time, as she watched people interact. They all were going about their daily lives, completely unaware of what was about to take place. She finally saw what looked like Tony Stark fly above her head. _The metal man was here that meant the others would soon follow._

She started her way back to Stark Tower, the portal was soon going to open. Erica took another look at the scene around her. The city bustle of New York was almost comforting to her; she could never be alone here. As she saw the smiles and laughs being shared between humans, she couldn't help but think that what she was doing was wrong. _"These people are all going to die and I would be the cause. What kind of monster was I?"_

Breaking her from her train of thought a man, the height and build of Tony was thrown off the top of Stark Tower. In the middle of his free-fall, a machine blast after him: she watched as him, as his suit puts itself on him. Inches from everyone's head he finally thrust up into the sky. She stared in amazement as the portal opened, the blue light leaving her mesmerized. Erica stood still as everyone started pushing and bumping into her. Then the Chitari came swarming out from the hole, shrieks were heard from every corner, the cries of children filled the streets. **_ It was time._**

She ran to the nearest building as she watched Tony shoot down as many aliens as he could. Seeing that it would be hard to spot the Avengers on the ground Erica stole a ship from the first to make it to the ground. From above she could see the full extent of the hell that has broken loose. At this rate her estimated death toll was rising above 2,000. _"This is wrong. Help them. __**No, stop it. Your job it to find Tony and kill him.**__ Don't hurt him he's your fri- __**Get the Avengers**__."_ She then steered her hovercraft up to where Tony is. Above she made out Thor, who flew to Loki on Stark Tower. With a pack of Chitari, Erica followed Ironman, shooting at him. As she noticed a ship coming toward them she fell behind. She followed them as they crash landed and the Captain, Natasha and Clint broke free from the wreckage. Out of sight she waited for the perfect moment to pounce on her prey._ "Nat, Clint, and the Captain they're safe. I can't hurt them. __** You have too**__."_

Erica looked back up to the portal to the huge whale looking ship that was slowly coming out, it left her frozen in her tracks, more destruction in its wake.

She looked back to the Avengers,_ "I need to help them, too many people are dying. __**No this is what you wanted, war.**__ No no I do not, I want to save people __**You will save them, when they are enslaved.**__"_ Erica felt light headed, her vision blurring, as she fell to her knees. "_Stop this, what are you doing to me.__** Follow us, we can show them peace.**__ War is not peace, death is not peace, Enslaving an entire race is not peace._" Her breathing was coming in shaky, while the rest of her body began to tremble. "**_Do not try to break from us, renegades are not welcome..._**" She coughed blood into her hands, "**_...we hold your will and can crush your heart._**" Erica's eyes went back into focus, still unable to move she watched, the Captain, Clint and Natasha talk. He left them as Chittari swarmed to them, giving Erica the impulse to stand up and walk toward them.

"Hey Nat!" Erica yelled as she ran to them.

"Ricky?" Clint looked up after shooting down an alien, "Ricky what happen to you? We thought you died or something."

"I met Loki on the ship, and he was able to show me a few things."

"What?" Erica was a feet away from Clint when she swung her leg beneath him. Unprepared, Clint fell, but Natasha countered with a punch to Erica's rib. They all stood back up tall, the Hawk and Widow parallel to Erica. "Not you too." Clint let out a sigh then went for a high kick to her head. Erica grabbed his leg avoiding the punches Nat was throwing at her, and pushed him into the concrete street. Wincing he apologized, "Sorry I'm about to do this," he pulled an arrow from his back and shot it at her. She easily avoided it, but in the process stepped into Natalie's tackle.

"Hold her still 'Tash." Clint persisted, as he tried to aim an arrow at Erica.

"If I could I would, but she's a lot stronger than me." The black widow struggled on the floor as she lost her grip on Erica after being elbowed in the face, "Crap!" Clint shot arrows at the running Erica, each sending a bomb closer to her heels as they hit the floor. The Chitari aided Erica in her fight, winning for a moment until Captain America came.

"What happen to Erica?" The Captain asked as she swung for his face.

"Loki! We just have to hit her hard on the head." Natasha tried shooting her with the gun of a dead Chitari as she continued, "Which is easier said than done." Erica threw the corpse of an alien toward Natasha, making her collapse under its weight.

She soon fell into hand to hand combat with Rogers. "Erica, stop, we're on the same side here!" Erica quit throwing punches as she saw nearby Chitari struck by thunder. Erica slipped under Rogers, jumping to the air in an attempt to hit Clint.

She could hear Thor's booming voice, "I thought the young maiden was in our ranks?"

"She is we just have to bring her to her senses." Clint yelled as he struggled, in his tug of war, against Erica, his bow-string an unstable support to pull. Captain America tried to sneak behind her, but she kicked her leg back, hitting him in his face. She let go of the bow, making the Hawk fumble back.

"I apologize my lady," Thor threw his hammer into Erica's torso, knocking the air out of her. Foreseeing the moment of weakness, Steve pinned her to the ground, while she fought against his grip. She quickly managed her way on top of him, but before standing up, was snatched from behind, by Thor. He lifted her feet from the floor as she swung recklessly at the air.

Clint yelled, rubbing his sore bottom,"Hurry someone punch her in the head before she gets free!"

Still on the floor Steve yelled, "I can't hit a women."

"Please, the midgard is hard to hold." Thor bellowed as he nearly missed one of Erica's punches.

"You guys are such wimps," Natasha walked to Erica pulling up her sleeves as much as she could. "Sorry, Ricky," she swiftly kicked Erica in the face, making her slow down. "Damn it!" She gave Erica one more blow, fatal to a normal human, putting Erica into a daze. She stopped her kicking and screaming, taking the chance the red-head pressed a pressure point in Erica's neck making her fall asleep.

Thor laid Erica's unconscious body on the floor. He put his hand on her back to keep her head from touching the city rubble, as he talked to the team, "The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable."

Through the intercom the rest of the team could hear Tony, "Thor is right, we gotta deal with these guys."

Tired Nat said, "How do we do this?"

"As a team." Captain America looked to Erica, who was beginning to stir in Thor's arms. She let out a cough, opening her eyes a bit.

Thor held her closer to him as she shook trying to sit up straight. She finally opened her eyes wide, her dormant purple eyes a comforting sign to the team. Noticing that she was incredibly close to another being Erica shot up from Thor's arms. Her vision was hazy and she felt like throwing up, she began to lean over a bit too much. Waving her hand away at Steve's all to willing helping hand, she stood tall.

"It's great to see you're feeling better." The Captain said to Erica.

"Thank you Captain. Although I do apologize to all of you."

"No problem." Nat smiled at her.

Thor interjected, "I have unfinished business with Loki."

Barton fixed his bow and arrows as he told Thor, "Yeah, get in line."

Steve quickly stopped them from bickering, "Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..."

He stopped when he notices something that sounded like a motorbike coming in their direction. Banner's arrival was the most awkward Erica had ever seen.

Bruce yelled out to the team sardonically, "So, this all seems horrible."

Nat replied to him, "I've seen worse." Erica was sure there was more behind Nat's comment then she was aware of.

Confirming Erica's belief Bruce told the spider, "Sorry."

"No, we could use a little worse." Nat smiled at him and in turn Bruce smiled at her.

He looked to Erica, "Hi, Eric."

She smiled as she stared into his chocolate eyes, "Hello, Doctor."

He looked at her awhile before biting his lip, then he walked to her and put his hand out to her. Erica took his grip and they gave each other an awkward hand shake. "It seems that we have both missed a lot of the events that have happen so far."

Bruce pulled his hand away from her, then rubbed the back of his neck, "You have no idea."

The Captain interrupted their moment, "Stark, we got him, Banner, just like you said."

Erica could hear Tony through the others intercom, "Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." They all watched Ironman turned quickly into their view drawing the huge whale-like ship toward them. Erica clenched her jaw.

Intimidated, The Black Widow said, "I don't see how that's a party."

Bruce began to walk toward the ship. Erica stopped herself from running after him, aware of what he was going to do. Roger called back to him, "Dr. Banner, now might be a good time for you to get angry."

Looking back Bruce told him, "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." Erica wasn't completely sure whether she should have been horrified or in awe at the transformation. She thought aloud, _"That must hurt."_ It was the first time she had ever seen the Hulk in person and he was really a spectacular sight. The minute the Hulk's green fist made a collision with the ship it broke to pieces. AS the last of the debris fell onto the broken city streets, a loud roar of cheering erupted.

The team watched as hundreds of more giant ships came through the portal.

Nat called, "Guys."

In his suit Tony said, "Call it, Captain."

Erica looked at the Captain as he gave orders, "Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash."

Clint asked Stark, "Wanna give me a lift?"

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Tony grabbed Clint and flew him up to the building.

The captain went back to giving orders, "Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You've got the lightning, light the bastards up. Ricky you need to thin out the herds, keep those giant ships from letting any more aliens on the streets " He looked at Nat, "You and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk... **smash!**"

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**Yay! Erica's back! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and once again don't hate me. Thanks for reading!**


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